1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a women's hair accessory; more specifically, the invention pertains to a hair lifting, retention, and styling device for providing enhanced volume to a wearer's hairstyle. More particularly, this invention pertains to a head-worn device that lifts the hair for the purpose of adding heightened, or enhanced, volume and shape to the wearer's hairstyle while simultaneously retaining a wearer's hair from in front of the wearer's face. Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the hair lifting, retention, and styling device is provided with cooperating hinges that allow the device to be folded for storing the device in a pocket or case when the device is not being worn.
2. Description of the Related Art
Curvilinear, or substantially curvilinear hair bands, sometimes referred to as headbands, have been long known in the art for keeping long hair out of the wearer's eyes and from in front of the wearer's face. The headband devices known and described in the art typically press, or pull, the hair tightly and press the hair flat against the wearer's head. Typical of these devices are the devices taught and described in the following U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,214, issued to J. M. Levy on Jan. 13, 1959, teaches and discloses a hair band with means for gripping the hair so as to substantially prevent slippage of the hair band. U.S. Pat. No. 3,031,681, issued to V. T. Hoeflich on May 1, 1962, discloses a tiara-like head-worn device as a novelty for parties. U.S. Pat. No. 3,471,867 issued to B. J. Kirchoff on Oct. 14, 1969, discloses a scarf-like device incorporating a flexible coil-type rib. U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,887 issued to Daniel S. Y. Kim on Jan. 5, 1993, discloses an absorbent headband having a resilient inner frame member. U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,243 issued to Wen Shyong Chang on Dec. 2, 1997, discloses a hair band having a main body and two retaining pieces releasably attached to the main body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,386 issued to Wen-Shyong Chang on Dec. 16, 1997 similarly discloses a hair band having releasably attached end members. U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,872 issued to Hsien Chu Wang on Aug. 17, 1999, discloses a foldable hair holder that is substantially curvilinear or arcuate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,647 issued to Jennifer Ouellette on Nov. 23, 1999, discloses an arcuate, or curvilinear, woman's headband and a method for its construction. U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,106 issued to Deborah Lawson on Jan. 2, 2007, discloses a foldable decorative hair band having an outwardly bowed bridging strip section that is adapted to receive a detachable decorative plate. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,360,077 issued to Michael Defenbaugh et al. on Jan. 29, 2013, discloses a substantially curvilinear headband having pliable ends.
The known devices as described above are substantially curvilinear, or arcuate, which leads to them sharing the common trait that they are designed to pull the wearer's hair tightly and flatly against the wearer's head. What is missing from the known art is a substantially rectilinear hair lifting, retention, and styling device for adding volume, or enhanced shape, to the wearer's hairstyle and optimizing comfort.